Thanks for taking the time to watch this video, we hope you found it worthwhile. We are proud to be able to share free content on here, but to keep doing so regularly, we would love your support. If you feel so inclined, please feel free to check out our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/BattleGuide

My Grandad, born in the 1890's, volunteered to fight in WW1 in a Lancashire Pal's regiment. He fought for 18 months in the Somme, eating nothing but bully (corned) beef and hard tack ( dog biscuits), sometimes sleeping upright in mud and drinking out of muddy puddles, always covered in lice. He fought hand to hand with Germans and hated it but it was either them or him. Him and his pals were so fed up with the food that they drew straws and he drew the short one. He had to stalk the Officer's Mess and steal a cooked chicken. They ate all the evidence and as a serious offence the whole group were punished but nobody ratted on him. A shell exploded next to him and he was seriously wounded. If a doctor had not given him a transfusion from his own arm he would have died. The clean sheets of the field hospital were like heaven after never having had a bath for months. He lived to 89 and died in Lancashire in the mid 70's.

I think I have the only WW1 trench bench. What happened is my grandfather, living in Indiana was working for a company that was asked to come up with a portable bench that could be used in the trenches of Europe. They came up with a prototype. That was about 42'" long by 16'' by 18'' heigh. made of metal but the legs could be folded to be about 2" thick. It had thin wood slats to sit on. The prototype was made, then the contract was canceled because the war ended. The company raffled off the bench and my grandfather won it. It was used by my grandmother for years to put laundry baskets on while hanging up the laundry. In time the slats got rotted and in 2000 I replaced the slats and cleaned up the bench. The family always referred to it as 'the trench bench''.

They’d be pinned down sometimes by snipers, unable to move supplies in. So that means they’d go without food and water for extended periods of time. Not to mention the dead soldiers unable to be moved out properly, rotting. On top of all that, they had to relieve themselves in the trenches because they had no where else to go. They’d have buckets of waste, lining the trenches. It was absolute hell for these guys.

I was lucky enough to go on a battlefield tour in Flanders in Dec 2023. I was taken to the very place where my grandfather was wounded just outside Messines near Ypres. He was with the Leinster Regiment, 16th Irish Division. It was an incredible, bucket list experience. He recovered from his wound and rejoined his regiment, seeing out the war in Palestine.

What a great quote. For those who didn’t make it til the end here it is” the war for me was 90% bored stiff 9% frozen stiff and 1% scared stiff.” A survivor of ww1

Thank you for giving me some understanding of what my Great-uncle would have experienced. He served with The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders 1st/6th Battalion) and only survived a year in France, dying when he was only 20 years old. It astounds me when I compare myself and others at 19 or 20 and imagine how we would have been in the same situation.

I read some of the diaries written by German soldiers who were shocked when brown men jumped into their trenches and engaged them in hand to hand fighting. They initially hated the brown men but later came to respect them for their courage. The brown men were in fact Indians fighting in British Army uniforms. 1.3 million Indian soldiers fought bravely in the World War One yet this is never taught in British classrooms or acknowledged on film. My Indian great-grandfather was one of them who fought in Flers-Courcelette in 1916, which resulted in a British victory.

the fact that more than 100 years later the land STILL is scared by WW1 shows just how insane this was

My grandfather served in the trenches with the Royal Engineers --- your rendering helps me understand his experiences

Watching this a day before Armistice really hits home. Although living memory of WW1 is long gone, we can never forget what these young men and women on both sides sacrificed. I hope they're all resting easy.

My father was a company runner in the first world war in Belgium. He use to tell me what life was like,. He got a small amount of Gas lurking in a hole running from shell bust hole to shell burst hole to deliver a message. He ended up in hospital because of it. At the time he was only 17 years old. Yes I know, he was under age to join up. Even lied about his state of his sight. Took the test by remembering the chart. He thought it would be a great adventure. In reality from his talks to me I got the impression that it was hell on earth. He had to sleep in water within the trenches and endure the relentless shelling from enemy guns.

My grandfather joined up in 1895 as a boy soldier. He served throughout the war. He came back a changed man with PTSD and nightmares till the day he died. ...

The common courtesy’s given between soldiers was amazing, you can nearly guarantee at some places a pact was made. “We don’t interrupt breakfast” we hear of things like Xmas piece, Germans and British playing games of football or cricket together, in Gallipoli the Turks kindly asked the Australians to stop throwing cricket balls around as the Turks thought they were bombs, again at Gallipoli and on many fronts “enemy’s” would exchange photos and letters, in the Australian war memorial there is tobacco that a Turkish soldier traded with an Australian Respect between men, understanding that the man you are trying kill is in fact another human

My grandfather saw plenty of trenches with the New Brunswick 26th battalion in WW1 in Belgium and France. He was one of the few originals who returned in 1919 after sailing to Europe in June 1915 from Saint John.

_90% bored stiff._ _9 % frozen stiff._ _1 % scared stiff._ ...life in a trecnh. Thanks for an interesting and informative video, well presented.

Very well presented. Thank you. Definitely the best WWI trench informational video I've seen!

Brilliant video. Read a fair bit about WW1, but learnt quite a lot here. Thanks for posting a quality well researched video. Time to check out some of your other videos.

Just discovered your channel and very glad I did! Wonderful content. Keep up the great work!

I've just found your channel, and am finding it so interesting and informative. My grandad was there in the Royal Horse Artillery as a driver and farrier, he wouldnt speak of it, just cried big silent tears.xx

My Grandfather was a soldier that took supplies via horse drawn wagon to the front lines of the trenches. Another factor was the incidence of trench death which is more commonly known as the Spanish Flu which caused the death of both sides during this time.

Superb clean, crisp and to the point presentation, thankyou.

Rest in peace to everyone who never made it home 🌹 Thank you for your service and sacrifice. You will never be forgotten 🌍✌️💙

A very interesting and informative video. Well produced. Thank you. 👍

This is the fourth video I’ve watch from you this morning. Some of the best world war related documentaries I’ve ever had a the pleasure of watching. I love how you overlap old maps with the current satellite images. Subbed 👍🏼

Great video. Lots of good visuals. The narrative was also very good. Thank you for all your hard work.

Brilliant!! xxx New subscriber. Thank you for the quality work xxx

Loved this vid, found it one of the most interesting things I had seen in a while.

Very well done. Thanks for upload. Lest we forget.

Hard to believe I'm 45 and My grandfather was in this war. Boys became men on the fly! God bless them all.

Very well put together 👍

Beautiful video. Very educational. Thank you

Nice music used in the video. Keep up the work to pass the word on WW1. Well done.

Excellent video

Really enjoyed this, thank you.

Man, this video is amazing, and your voice is smooth. I appreciate it. Keep up the good work.

Thank you so much for posting this. Means a lot to me! I’m 21 years old and love history and family genealogy. My paternal great- grandfather Luther Anderson from Ceres, Bland County, VA served in WW1 in France & was in the trenches. I came across a photo of him in his uniform that I had never seen before and got tears in my eyes. I couldn’t imagine what all he went through and witnessed. I believe he was in his early twenties, he suffered from the mustard gas & PTSD. I am beyond blessed to have been his great- granddaughter. God bless all of these men. ❤️

A very informational video, great job. Also I was thinking about that quote that you said ( I read it in a book ) just before you did say it.

Very interesting. Well done mate!

great vid, cheers from VAncouver!

First time on your channel...very good video! Professional, empathic and informative. I thought the demonstration of the layout of the trenches was good, as it can seem complex or simply not explained in other docs. I've studied WWI poetry as part of my first degree in Literature so it's always touched me as well as having relatives who died there. Hard to imagine the life between fear, boredom, lack of sleep and of course imminent death. Bless every one of them.

Another little jewel. Thank you

This was very well done.

Finaly a video about not only the combat times, but also there day to day activities

I love that quote at the end.

Excellent video. The only thing that you didn't mention, at the start of the war there was the retreat from Mons, the defence of Paris then the push back until both lines stopped.

Well spoken, a fine documentary!❤

Reading the thumbnail caption was a struggle. Video was great.

I heard a description that if you wanted to feel like what it was like to live in a trench; dig a hole in your backyard, move into it, eat, sleep, use the lavatory etc., fill it half full of water, add rats, garbage, and lice. Be prepared to wake up quickly as someone may try to kill you at a moments notice.

Just one day sounds dreadful, and this carried on for years 😥

Very nice presentation.

You make the best documentaries

That dudes haircut at 7:33 is genuinely hilarious.

Great informative video

Informative. Thank you.

This is great channel! Hope you do a video on the zone rouge in France

Very informative.

How to describe a harrowing experience So beautifully.

New sub here, thank you very much!

Really good video, im impressed

It's really neat to see how modern military customs and routines trace their roots back to the trenches of The Great War. Everything from getting up at 4am, to being clean-shaven, all has its beginning here. The US Marines and US Army still follow these routines that they learned from the French and British back in 1917. The US military had been kind of an ad hoc force up until then and had not fought a serious war since 1865.

Hi you mention having a "Chat" this was Slang for de-lousing your uniform. The soldiers would sit around a lamp or candles and run the seams of the uniform through the flames. And wait for the pop as the lice exploded. Hence the saying " Having a Chat".

I really appreciate your research all the past story is emotional life in amazing journey...Life just leave us as a story 😢

My GF fought with 30th ID US. He wrote about the huge rats he saw and the mud. Living in the trenches for those few months was horrible. He could imagine the 3-4 years of it

As a Canadian today, it's impossible to comprehend what trench warfare was like in Europe during WWI. My English grandfather fought in the trenches in north-east France, but he never relayed any stories of the horrors that he struggled to forget. My mother well recalled her father finally returning from war, his hair turned white, his skeletal body 75 pounds lighter than when he had left, his body covered with lice and infested with parasites. Many years before the full recovery of his body and his mind.

Great account of trench warfare. Enjoyed watching.

Great video

@Battle Guide Well done! Do you have a day in the life of a soldier during the Vietnam War? I'm looking but don't see anything yet.

"Forward he cried from the rear And the front rank died And the general sat And the lines on the map Moved from side to side" Roger Waters. Us and Them.

Complimenti per il video.😊😊😊😊😊..... Ecco perché I MONUMENTI DEDICATI A QUESTI RAGAZZI NELLE NOSTRE CITTÀ DOVREBBERO ESSERE PIENI DI FIORI E DI DONI ....😢😢😢😢😢SE LO MERITANO 😢😢😢😢SOLO PER TUTTO QUELLO CHE HANNO PASSATO....... VISTO E SOFFERTO 😢😢😢😢😢

Truly a hell on earth

This war stands out as the most collectively underestimated conflicts in history. If the roles of World War II and World War I were reversed, our perception of which was more severe would likely be drastically different. Examining the statistics reveals that the percentage of military deaths relative to the population of Europe was higher in World War I (2.5%) than in World War II (2.2%). However, World War II experienced a notably higher number of civilian casualties compared to World War I, potentially explained by the fact that World War I was primarily fought in regions with less densely populated civilian areas than the theaters of World War II. The nature of combat in these two wars differed significantly. World War I had large designated "combat zones" with relatively stable warfront locations, and major metropolitan areas were largely spared from direct conflict, especially on the Western and Eastern fronts. On the contrary, World War II battles were predominantly fought in strategic cities and regions. Unlike World War I, there were no clearly defined combat zones in World War II, leading to a more widespread impact on civilian populations

Hello from Las Vegas Nevada 🇺🇸

Fantastic...no one has cause to complain about their lives today, when you see what these men went through..what absolute heroes these men were!

The Germans dug their trenches on high ground; deep and dry. The British dug theirs as close as they could to Germans; low ground(mud, really) with little drainage. On the other hand, British troops rested longer in reserve and they ate better than the Germans.

I knew a u.s. soldier who was in w.w.1 He witnessed the airplanes dogfighting and cut the canvas off a burning crashed German airplane. He had it in his garage. Amazing old guy.

Interesting 👍

Go 9.43. this image i had in a dream many years ago.ITS SO REAL LIKE THE DREAM. ALSO THE DISMAL DISTANT GUN FIRE AND AWFUL DARK SMOKING SKY.My father and mother both lost relatives during ww1 in France .I visited the Strasbourg Cathedral when working in France a choir was singing. I turned cold it put shivers up my spine. It was all so haunting.🇬🇧🇫🇷

Every soldier, has a sh't job ! "If it ain't raining, we ain't training!"

I was in the Navy and we did 6 hours on 6 hours off for three months. The crew eventually turned into zombies. I can’t even fathom what these men went though. This is on another level. Hard men create good times. Right now we have weak men so we are headed for bad times. The cycle continues….

Thanks

I just purchased a book that was found in a German dugout in 1917. Lots of hand written notes inside.

Great documentary.. really highlights that "back to the front"😅... Is cyclical history?

If your into this type of history.. its well worth trying to get your hands on a copy of the BBC fantastic series "The Trench" in which 20+ volunteers spent weeks in a specially reconstructed Trench in France. Theres never been anything as good or as close as that.

God Bless Them All...👍👍

By far the GREATEST generation the world has ever seen god bless all on all sides

FYI, sections in the FWW British Army were 12 men strong in 1914, dropping to 9 later in the war.

You missed out on one of the most important things for an infantryman. The latrine. What it was, how often it was available, and when it could be used.

Very good--writing meshes well with the pictures and you have the voice for narration (for a Brit! lol). Just kidding, keep up the good work

1:49 "well ri-VET-ted" 🤣🤣🤣

what people did not realize and is a misconception about WW1...like you said...is that the men were not in the trenches all year long 24/7 ...they typically were there for several days and then were rotated to the rear lines.

I have a photo I took of the two men in the trench that is on the main screen of the video and I am trying to find out who they are. I saw the photo as part of an exhibition to do with WW1 at the imperial war museum in Salford but I haven't heard anything. Would you know. I have just found that one is warrant officer Henry Basil Ault and he survived the war but not found much on him still not found the other officer who is a sergeant

Reminds me of what mark Cavendish commented on the Tour de France - I wake in pain, I live in pain, I sleep in pain.

Sound fun 😊

Some of the stories we were told during training.... Attacking trenches with overhead cover, logs etc. Check it out. Daily routine hasn't changed.

Talking of the endurance of handling the life in trenches and things being sent from home. Were there set periods where soldiers could use the heroine and cocaine sent to them by loved ones or was it as and when they felt the need? Found it quite an eye opening when found out about the care packages containing both, with syringes, in department stores in the UK for people to send to their loved ones in the trenches. Also then lead on the the discovery that drug prohibition is a relatively recent experiment and we used to be trusted to make our own decisions about these things.

Cool video but I noticed that the exploded view of the Enfield rifle from the cleaning weapons section was of a World War Two No4mk1 and an image owned by @candrsenal so maybe give credit for the image that you took from them

These videos are extremely humbling, as many of the activities carried out in today's Army are directly influenced by our ancestral forces. We still reveille/stand to, we still pretend that shaving will create that seal that'll make our GSRs work against the almost entirely lethal CBRN attack, we still (sometimes) pretend that Officers are more clued in than the rest of the bods. So many of the questionable qwerks of the military have direct and proven routes in actual documented warfare. Make's me wonder what's next.

Most militaries still do “stand to” today, when out in the field. We were always told the tradition went all the way back to the American-Indian wars. Use to be an inside joke, “wake up, it’s 0630, the Indians are coming” then we would sit there all angry for acouple hours waiting for the sun to come up all the way. Hearing the actual history behind it makes it seem a lot less stupid than it felt at the time

It's not that long ago, our elder grandparents deserve so much respect for what they did, I'm glad mine aren't alive Today to see the results of the absolutely craziness and selfish ways the 'generations today behave 😞